


Built Not Unlike Me

by EmilliaGryphon



Series: Guardians of the Galaxy One Shots [3]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), MCU, Marvel
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Healing, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-07-31
Packaged: 2018-12-09 10:57:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11667735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmilliaGryphon/pseuds/EmilliaGryphon
Summary: Gamora and Rocket are more similar than they think. One day Gamora realizes this.





	Built Not Unlike Me

If Peter ever pulls that again…Gamora clenched her teeth against the electrifying pain and balled her wrist tighter. Sitting in her quarters she hovered over the damage done to her left arm and carefully balanced the screwdriver in her right. Another painful twist in the muscle of her back caused her to breathe a long low breath. Just bare it, in…out…it will pass. It always does. The units were worth it, but the fight with those Varian beasts was tougher then she thought. Who knew three feet creatures with four arms and two tails were something to be feared? The Collector didn’t mention their fangs or claws, or their ability to leap from great heights when he asked them to go on this mission. Doesn’t matter….ow…it’s done now…Gamora wiped her eyes, straining with fatigue and dropped the screwdriver crying out in unexpected anguish as the metal in her arm sparked, sending electricity up her body. She doubled over, holding her usable hand over her bounding chest. Good, didn’t make it to my heart this time…she wiped the sweat from her brow and tried to ignore the burning in her leg. Beneath the tear of her pants and her wrenched green flesh she could see her modifications, the silver implants Thano’s had installed in her leg. To make for more powerful kicks…She shook her head, eyes unfocused and cursed when another blast of white hot arrows went through her arm. 

“Focus Gamora,” she reprimanded, balancing the screwdriver once more. “Just have to tighten it….” Biting her lip when she felt the head lock into the socket she carefully twisted the lower half of her left arm to the upper at the elbow. Almost there…something in her lower back zapped with a petrifying shock and she cried out as much in shock as in frustration. The screwdriver clattered to the floor. “Forget it.” She thought, standing slowly, one step at a time and reached for the bandages. Wrapping her arm together she stopped, someone was watching her. Quickly resuming her composure she tied off the last wrap. 

“What are you doing here Rocket?” The raccoon’s footfalls were quiet as he entered. She did not turn to face him. The sweat and redness of her face was too much.

“Head’s up Gams,” she was forced to turn and caught a small can in her good hand. 

“What is this?” Rocket shrugged, coming further into her room uninvited and leaned back against the edge of her bed, arms folded. His tail flicked in what she could only interpret as amusement. 

“Havarx ointment, they use it on the turbines of ships.” 

“Leave me be rodent…” Had she been in less pain she may have regretted calling him such. But there was no time for his antics. The sooner she was able to figure out what was wrong with her implants and heal up the better. Even now the pain stemming from her wounds caused her stomach to churn. The rodent in question furrowed his brow, ears flicking back but she watched him relax after a moment, huffing impatiently. 

“Works on turbines and….cybernetics. I pick it up every chance I get.” She frowned. 

“Cybernetics?” Rocket rolled his eyes.  


“That’s what I said Gams, cybernetics.” She watched him, turning the yellow labeled can around in her hands and opened it, sitting down on the bed. A whiff of sour smelling toxicity hit her almost as hard as the Varian beasts. 

“This smells terrible.” He shrugged, rolling his eyes.

“Works wonders though, and your mods are top grade ademantium. Thanos didn’t skimp. If it works for my shoddy metal it’ll do wonders to yours.” She only nodded, the pain in her arm jolted again and she bit her tongue. Rocket stared at the ground, his hands balling and releasing. The two of them stood for several minutes, the silence between them holding something Gamora was afraid of, but had always known. It held uncomfortable, unsettling familiarity. 

“Thank you Rocket,” she managed after a few moments.

“It’s nothin’.” 

“I mean it. We aren’t dissimilar, you and I.” He turned to look at her, for a moment she caught the smile on his face, the ephemeral shine of gratitude and connection in his eyes. Is this how much he starves for connection? She wished she didn’t know what that was like. “You are more than what those scientists made you.” She found herself saying, the sentiment surprised her but she continued before that impenetrable shell could close her off. “I am more than what Thanos made me. I did not always think so, but it is true.” 

“Whatever,” he dismissed, leaning straight up again, arms refolding protectively across his chest. It was Gamora’s turn to roll her eyes.

“Rocket. You are not the only one who has had your bodily autonomy stripped of you. You are not the only one who has been….forged as a tool. A means for an ends.” He turned to her, face unreadable. “You were built not unlike me. You know that?” She sighed and wanted to crouch down, to look him in the eyes but thought better. “There may be no thing like you except you,” she repeated his words. “…but that doesn’t mean you are alone.” Rocket’s eyes blinked, Gamora watched him take a deep breath, weighing untold number of snarky responses. 

“Just lemme know if you need more of the Havarx stuff.” His voice was quiet. Gamora nodded, smiling. She’d spent her life doing evil. Killing, murdering, but she was with the Guaridans now. She’d begun to do good, to help people, and if she could begin to heal herself, maybe she could begin to help Rocket too. At least let him know that she shared a fraction of his pain. It was a terrible thing to be alone, that much she knew. He waved half-hazard and she watched him leave, ringed tail swishing back and forth. He didn’t say anything but she heard him humming down the hall. 

Turning to the jar, Gamora scrunched her nose and took one glop of the green viscus, applying it to her arm. She would tell Rocket that it worked some hours later but not in front of the other Guaridans. When she did tell him, he nodded and that hidden smile lingered just a moment longer. It made her smile too. Now the silence between them held connection, held friendship and a mutual respect.


End file.
